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Originally Posted by A Very Super Market
Generally speaking, the farther from the front lines, the more fervent the soldiers become.
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I think for unique nation like Japan it went a bit deeper. Bushido as an aristocratic warrior code with it's roots in Japan's middle ages originally prescribed correct and honorable behavior towards enemies as a reflection of one's own honor. During WW2 it increasingly mutated into a way of war than a way of life. The soldiers and sailors of Japan were excepted to show concern for nothing but their duty and mission. This ethic can be a recipe for trouble away from the front lines in any army but it's effect was exaggerated, as Japan's protracted involvement in China increased, by a sense of being hopelessly outnumbered in a land of hostile and unknowable enemies. The infamous Nanking Massacre was, in good part sparked by Japanese fear of "plainclothesmen". Chinese soldiers who shed their army uniforms to act as sniper and saboteurs.
Another factor that that instilled thuggery into Japanese soldiers was Japan's thin logistics thread. Troops were expected to supplement their meager rations by requisition and foraging. In primitive locales like rural China and the South Pacific this became the slippery slope for brutality in a subsistence economy. From using rifle butts on a stubborn peasant hoarding rice it was only a short step to teaching local women who their new masters were, and to destroying and torching anything that couldn't be carried away.